Shabps



c. S HARPS.

Primer for Fire-Arms.

Pafiented June 28, 1853.

W ukkmw -UNITE STATES ATEN Fries.

IMPROVEMENT lN PERCUSSlON-PELLETS specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 9,820, dated June 28, 1853.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHRISTIAN SHARPS, of Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and use-.

'ful Improvement in Percussion Caps or Pellets, of which the following is a full, clear, and

exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, and in which- Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of the pellet magazine or'chamber of a self-primingmusket with pellets therein, and a view in perspective of a pellet-charger, partly loaded, for

filling the magazine. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the charger. Fig. 2 is a view in per-- spective of the two parts of apellet-case, which, when fitted together and loaded with detonatin g material, form the pellet. Figl4 is a transverse section of a pellet in process of manufacture; and Fig. 5 is a similar view of the finished cap or pellet, the drawings being on an enlarged scale for the better. exhibition of the parts.

The ordinary open percussion cap or pellet is subject to many objections. It is bulky to carry and inconvenient to use, requiring the hand to insert it on the nipple of the gun, and is liable to shed its detonating-powder. Numerous other objections, which it is not necessary to specify, exist, and it has long been a desideratum to produce a closed cap or pellet easily made and suitablefor self-priming fire-arms.

- To supply this desideratum is the object of my I joined by a side edge or periphery of two thicknesses, as represented in Fig. 4. Before, however, .thns fitting these two half-boxes together the detonating' material is inserted in the smaller part b, so that it may be inclosed securely when the half-boxes are fitted together, as described. The boxes thus united and containing the percussion material are placed within a die or chamber of the size of the outer box, and pressure is brought to bear upon their faces or ends, which action has the effect of forming an annular crimp round their'peripheries, as represented in Fig. 5, so that the two boxes are permanently united, and, when removed from the die, cannoteasily be separated. By varnishing the pellet thus formed with a solution of gum-shellac in alcohol, so as to fill the joints, the detonating powder will be hermetically sealed, so that it will be perfectly preserved. Such a close pellet is especially adapted to self-priming fire-arms, and in the drawings it is shown as intended-to be used in connection with a look similar tothat described in my specification for an improved method of priming fire-arms, for which Letters Patent were granted to me hearing date the 5th day of October, inthe year 1852.

The magazine A of the musket is a tubular chamber formed by an enlargement of the lockplate. This chamberA is of somewhat larger diameter than the pellet to be used, and is of equal bore throughout except at the top, where it is conical, being slightly contracted, so as to leave an opening of about the size of the pellet. A cap, 0, is screwed into the lower end of the chamber, and a piston, D, fitted within the chamber. The piston D is of conical form on its upper face, corresponding with the conical mouth of the chamber, which the piston, when raised, shuts in the manner of a valve.

A- flat helical spring, E, is inserted beneath the piston, which constantly tends to raise it.

The thinness of the spring, together with a' der the projecting end a: of a sliding cap, F:

The space beneath the end w of the cap F is of such depth that when situated over the chamber A itwill receive but one pellet at a time by the pressure upward of the piston D.

2 I I 19 ,sno

The pellets a, are stored one upon the other on the piston D, as represented in Fig. 1, and are delivered one by one, as required, from the mouth of the chamber-A bydrawingbackthe slide F.-that is, one for-each discharge of the musket, The sliding eap F is thus drawn back for receiving a pellet .by raising the cock,--.is".

shot forward by the descent of the cock to discharge and deliver the .pelletat the place for its explosion, when thefu'rther action of the cock adjusts the sliding cap F to receive the next pellet, which the piston D, by its pressure upward, supplies until the pile of pellets'in the inag'azineAare exhausted- In'order that the magazine A may be filled with dispatch, and the pellets prevented from bottomv or lower end of the said tube 0.

A piston or follower, f, is fitted within the tube 0, and projects throughv the longitudinal slot 00 thereof. a v i To fill the charger G the follower fis with drawn from the tube-bysliding it out through the upper end of thetube. The fiat pellets, already described, are then introduced flatwise at the larger or upper end of the tube e in a sulficient number to nearly fill the tube. The folthe charger is ready for use.

To load or replenish the magazine A, the contracted and spring end of the tubeeis inserted in the mouth of the magazine, the follower f is then pressed forcibly downward, so as to project the pellets through the lower endof the tube, that yields sufficiently to allow them lower fis then inserted withinvthe tube, and

to pass into the magazine,thecontinucd action of the follower by pressure thereon forcibly pressing down the piston D till the charger is emptied and the magazine filled, when, without removing the follower, the charger is moved aside from the mouth of the magazine by push: ing the cap F against the lower end of the tube e, the cap preventing the piston D from forcing the pellets out of the magazine atonce, as it would do if the cap were not placed overits mouth. I Any less number than a. full charge of pellets maybe transferred from the charger into the magazine, as occasion requires, by only partially depressing the-follower, and the loaded charger may be kept with perfect safety in the pocket of the gunner-for replenishing the mag azine, as required. I This ehargerafibrds much facility and expedition in the loading of the magazine, insures the entrance of the flat pellets therein in proper order, and is asafe, simple, and convenient contrivance for carrying the pellets. so light, cheap,'and portable a character that a large number of-them containing full magazine-charges may be put up in packages ready for immediate use as an article of merchandise. V w,

What I'elaim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is- The PGIOIISSlOIbpEllGlJ herein described, consisting of avqnantity of detonatin g materialiuclosed between twotlanged disks orshallowholperipheries,- substantiallyas described,-so as to form a pellet in the form of a disk. I

In testimony whereof vI have hereunto subscribed my name.

' CHRISTIAN SHARPS.

Witnesses:

HARVEY LULL,

WM. H. ROBERTSON.

It also is of- 

